By Mary Owen
As Children’s Educational Theatre in Salem prepares for its 35th year what better way to move into the future than for a local dance professional to join its teaching ranks.
Silverton resident Marta Stovin brings years of dance, vocal and drama experience to her new role as dance instructor/choreographer for the theater group.
Stovin hails from a family of artists, including Pat Hazekamp, who taught art and drama in Silverton for more than 30 years. Her father, John Hazekamp, is a sculptor and carpenter, and brother, Earl, is an artist/ceramicist.
“And now I’m married to a professional musician,” she said of her husband, Tony.
Stovin started dance training at age 8, vocal and drama at 11, and at 14, began teaching with Elaine Unger who taught her ballet, character and jazz. Her first paid dance performance was at age 17 as an apprentice with the Eugene Ballet Co.
Dancing professionally in Portland and New York, Stovin has long list of credits including study at the American Reparatory Ballet, Princeton Ballet, Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center, among others. She also was in the final casting call for the Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, when the terrorist acts of Sept. 11 occurred.
“The show was canceled before it was even cast, and to this day I’ll never know if I would have been in the show or not,” she said. “This added to the devastation I experienced during the horrific acts of 9/11, and I moved back to Oregon.”
To keep art and drama available to Silverton youth after her mother’s retirement, Stovin taught dance and drama at the local YMCA for about a year. Then she fulfilled her childhood dream by opening a performing arts school, American Academy of the Performing Arts Company, on Main Street in Silverton.
“A couple of years ago, one of my students had a lead role in the CET production of Tom Sawyer,” Stovin said. “I went to see him perform, and I knew right then and there what an amazing program it was. I’ve been an advocate for them ever since.”
Stovin met CET co-director Robert Salberg through work she had done with the Pentacle Theatre a few years ago, and then ran into him again in the spring. Salberg mentioned the opening for an instructor, she interviewed, and was given the position.
“It’s every teacher’s dream to have the opportunity to teach students who are serious about their craft,” she said of her new role. “The kids that go to CET live, eat, breathe and sleep theater. They are focused, talented and dedicated. Those are my kind of kids!”
Silverton resident Lisa Joyce’s son, Isaac, loves performing with CET. The 15-year-old played Tchelio in the CET production of Love for Three Oranges two years ago, and continues with the theater company today.
Joyce, who serves on the CET board of directors, believes an arts education enriches her son’s life.
“For Isaac, theater offers a creative outlet that is always trying to find expression in his life,” she said. “At the youngest age, he loved to put on shows, bring puppets to life, and mostly go to the theater.”
CET offers Isaac “a unique change to spend a few weeks with other kids who share his love of theater and witness the gifts of a diverse range of kids,” said Joyce, who recently moved with her family to Silverton partly for its creative center. “It’s so great that kids don’t have to go to Portland to get a quality arts education. “
“What the audience sees – the beautiful costumes, the impressive sets, the heartfelt performances – looks so effortless,” she said. “In reality, an amazing machine of staff, faculty, students and parent volunteers makes it all possible.”
Stovin is glad to be joining the “amazing group” behind CET’s success. The theater company plays a big part in teaching budding artists everything from acting, vocal music, dancing, stage crafts, mime, stage combat, audition skills to technical studies, she said.
“They are also teaching kids to be diverse, creative, problem solvers and team players, as well as showing them the proper etiquette and professionalism required in the theatrical world,” Stovin said. “Their mission and values reflect everything I believe in as a performer, director and teacher.”
Stovin believes the experiences young performers gain from CET will benefit them well into adulthood, even if they don’t follow a career in performing arts. She is looking forward to her new role, and said she will continue to funnel her students into the program.
“If I can get kids excited about dance, show them the importance of it as it relates to theater, or at least teach them an appreciation for it, I’ve reached my goal,” Stovin said.
To reach Stovin, call 503-873-0464 or 503-998-99476 or visit www.aaperformingarts.com.
<div class=”call-out-box”><strong>Summer theater for kids</strong> Children’s Educational Theatre’s 2009 season will premiere Alice in Wonderland, arranged by Greg Bowers, professor of music at The College of William and Mary in Virginia and a CET instructor for the past 12 years.
CET débuted its first season in 1975 with 92 students after Phyllis Quanbeck, the program’s first executive director, and a handful of McKinley Elementary School parents created it for Salem-Keizer Schools.
“There was nothing in our city involving summer theater for kids, and we were determined we were going to change that,” said Quanbeck, or Q as her supporters fondly call her.
In 2005, CET became an independent, nonprofit organization with a 14-member board of directors. Since its initiation, more than 6,000 students, 800 classes and 150 productions have taken place.
For information on Children’s Educational Theatre, call 503-399-3398 or visit www.cetsalem.org.
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